Practical ideas for facilitating workshops & people development

In 2013 I wrote a blog about learning a new skill and related it to my attempts to learn to ski. Well I’ve been back in the snow – this time to South Korea at Yongpong reluctantly having another attempt to ski.

Sitting at the bottom of the slopes in the morning watching I reflected on what I learnt last time, three years ago. I’ve only had one practice for an afternoon in those three years in NZ so my skills have not improved greatly!

Two things came to mind

The importance of practice – not surprisingly! As adults we often attend a training course and expect to walk out the door with all the skills to take on something new. In reality training course open our eyes to all there is to know about the topic and we often leave feeling like we have a whole new journey ahead. The only way to integrate these new skills into our subconscious is to practice, practice and practice some more. We also need good constructive feedback from someone we trust who has the skills we are looking to gain, someone who is able to not only “do” the skill but also able to teach. Who can you find to mentor you to fast track those new skills?

The ability to be vulnerable and even “childlike” when learning something new. Being prepared to behave like a child and let go of our adult preconceived ideas – learn in a child like way. Be vulnerable – who cares if we get it wrong, it looks funny, we are not perfect or even hopeless when we start‽ (Like me on the skis) The only person that really gets concerned about this is us. Change the frame of mind to one of “this is fun and it doesn’t matter as long as I’m learning.”

2015 was a very full year for me and something had to give. Unfortunately that something was my blog. 2016 is shaping up to be similar to 2015. I will endeavour to find some reflection time throughout the year to pen some ideas and thoughts for Workshops With Wow.

I hope you have all had a great start to the year and 2016 full or learning!